Rediscovering the Impact of Literature: A Journey Through Reading Memories

I cannot remember the books I’ve read anymore than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s 6 AM and, I’m looking out the living room window, watching the sun slowly peek around the corner of a brick wall. I am a morning person and this is my favorite time of day. It speaks of a new beginning. A chance to right the wrongs of yesterday and start over with a clean slate.

I like to read in the early morning. As my friend, Kathie, noted when she gave me a new pillow for my favorite chair. We share a love of literature and often talk about what we’ve read. I have conversations about books with many of my friends and I belong to a monthly bookclub.

For those of you following my blog, you know I have many posts about books. They are an important part of my life. Like Emerson, I don’t aways remember everything I have read. In fact, I sometimes begin a book only to realize I’ve already read it. I can’t contribute this to my age. I’ve never been able to remember everything I’ve read.

Intentionally, I often pull a book from the shelf to read again.This was the case with, the, Senators Wife, by Sue Miller. It tells the story of two women. One newly married, the other in her seventies looking back on a long and complicated union. I read it when it first was published in 2008. I re-read it this week. Interested to see how my perspective had changed over the past 16 years. I find as time has passed I’m less judgmental about both women’s relationships. I can relate more to the older woman, of course, and it doesn’t hurt the she escapes to an apartment in Paris. We can learn much about ourselves from books. And yes, I believe they have made me.